1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the treatment of diamonds, the treatment of synthetic or natural diamonds, and the improvement of physical characteristics of diamonds, especially their strength.
2. Background of the Art
It is well known that diamonds are graded by their physical characteristics. Artificial, synthetic and industrial diamonds may be primarily graded on their strength, as many of these types of diamonds are used as abrasive grit, in essentially a powder form where optical properties my not be readily observable, except under microscopic examination. Natural diamonds, especially diamonds used in jewelry and fashion, have many different factors that are used in grading the diamonds, such as color, clarity, occlusion content, shape, and the like.
It would be desirable to be able to inexpensively modify the physical and/or chemical properties of diamonds to increase their worth. Some attempts have been made to provide such processes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,184,079 (Hudson) describes a process for hardening natural or synthetic diamonds. The process includes steps of at least bombarding the diamond with ions of sufficient energy to penetrate the diamond and to cause irradiation damage in the form of a dislocation network in the crystal structure which inhibits microcleavage of the diamond, said bombardment occurring at a temperature of at least 500° C. such that the diamond crystal structure is maintained during the bombardment. The ions may include Hydrogen cations (H+).
As there are few processes that can measurably improve the properties of diamonds, it would be desirable to find an alternative to the high temperature process of Hudson, where the high temperatures are capable of actually worsening existent flaws in diamonds by strain on the diamond due to thermal expansion and expansion of gases within the diamond flaws, and even by oxidation or other chemical changes in the diamond, especially on its surface.